At his office in Las Vegas, Dr. Timothy Francis offers treatments based in applied kinesiology and chiropractic, naturopathic, and homeopathic medicine. He has also published a leading book on applied kinesiology, and has lectured on several continents. Dr. Timothy Francis’ interest in acupuncture has resulted in several papers, among them one on the theory of body meridians.

The idea that living bodies contain networks of paths along which energy flows is an ancient one. In early Chinese medicine, physicians and philosophers believed that chi, the life force, moves through most of the inside of the body along these paths. Meridians are also said to occur in matched pairs. Practitioners say that blockages or malfunctioning can cause the life-giving chi to be unusable by the body, leading to pain, inflammatory conditions, and other illnesses.

Today’s practitioners understand there to be six major meridian systems associated with organs in the human body. The system of acupuncture is anchored in this theory of meridians, in that each meridian is understood to offer multiple acupuncture points along its length. By selecting the right points for the application of acupuncture techniques, a professional seeks to treat particular conditions along with the proper alignment of the spine and extremity joints.